While the majority of federal employees are furloughed, awaiting a funding bill to be passed by Congress, NASA teams and contractors are still working towards getting Artemis 2 ready to launch next year. However, that can’t last forever, and an industry official just shared that some parts may begin to grind to a halt.
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In 2017 President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, setting NASA on a mission to return its astronauts to the surface of the Moon using the already in development Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. It has come a long way, survived one transition of power, but is likely to be taken to battle in Congress.
President Trump, now the 47th President of the United States, mentioned space only once during his address, and it had nothing to do with Artemis and everything to do with a destination a tad bit further away: Mars.
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Since 2011, NASA has been barred from using any government funds (which, as a government-funded agency, is pretty much all of it) to cooperate with China. The agency’s Administrator agrees to continue this. So for an agency whose goal is to explore space and be as apolitical as possible, should they try to begin working with China?
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